The present invention concerns plastic cards which may be touched or held by large numbers of persons, such as cash cards, member cards, credit cards, prepaid cards and hospital examination cards, etc.
Cards of the above mentioned types include cards whose principal elements are a card base including a synthetic resin such as polyvinyl chloride, etc., a coating layer or film-form sheet, etc., which is formed on the front and back surfaces of said card base, and a magnetic stripe which is formed at a specified location on the aforementioned coating layer or film-form sheet. These cards are called by the respective names mentioned above in accordance with the use of said cards.
However, in the case of conventional cards of the above mentioned types, the cards may be touched by the hands of large numbers of persons. Accordingly, in the case of (for example) hospital examination cards, which have shown an abrupt increase in use in recent years, there is a danger that infections may be spread through the medium of pathogenic organisms, etc., adhering to the cards. Furthermore, although it would be possible to avoid the spread of infection by subjecting the above mentioned hospital examination cards to periodic disinfection, etc., at hospitals or the like, a special treatment would be required for this purpose, thus complicating the handling of the cards. Moreover, since various pathogenic organisms are present not only in hospitals, but also in general outdoor and indoor locations, the above mentioned problems are also encountered in cards other than hospital examination cards.
Accordingly, the principal object of the present invention is to provide a card endowed with an antibacterial function which can prevent pathogenic organisms from spreading infections even if such pathogenic organisms should adhere to the card, and which can accomplish this goal without complicating the structure of the card itself.